Providers of digital content need a reliable and efficient means of delivering their products to consumers. Many content providers lack the infrastructure required to meet high levels of demand from widely dispersed end users. This lack of infrastructure can translate into poor quality of service and a generally bad online experience.
Content delivery networks (CDNs) maintain a presence throughout the Internet and host content objects for content providers as a service. In this arrangement, a content provider offloads delivery of its content objects to the CDN. The CDN, in turn, enables distribution of large volumes of content to end user with a greater reliability and efficiency than would be possible from a centralized distribution system.